Hello. First time Dnd player. Currently I am a lv 6 variant human Oath of Glory paladin. I had a question about a hex blade paladin build.
My question is… paladin lv 15 warlock lv 5 is it a good idea? Now that I’m lv 6 paladin I’m gonna take 5 lv of warlock then back to paladin.
I’ve read some on taking paladin to lv 6 for Aura of Protection and then warlock lv 14, but I want a hexadin that’s more paladin.
My DM accused me of Min Maxing (and I had to lookup why that means! Lol.) but I’m actually just trying to make a character that’s easier to play for a beginner. I just want to divine smite bosses as much as I can. I don’t want all the clutter of warlock spells. I want elriditch blastx2 at lv 5 with agonizing blast and grasp of hadar for a non spell ranged attack that pulls the boss to me so I can divine smite with my charisma, hex, hex warrior, hexblade curse and maybe haste. (Oath of glory 9th lv) Then all I have to worry about is getting my CHA mod to +5
Is my idea to messy and will my character be weaker at higher LVs?
The fact that you're asking will my character be weaker at higher levels suggest that you are min maxing but you could do it better 😈.
Minmaxing is fine as you want to make sure you have a good damage output etc but to me DnD is about the story not leveling up. Make your choices for level up character driven or story. There should be a reason why you're a paladin and a warlock at the same time. Is there conflicting deities? Are you torn between them or are you playing them off against one another for more power? Thats something to think about....
....on the other hand if you really wana do damage be oath of vengance pally and use vow of emnity to kick the big bads teeth into next week. Alternatively for hexblade you can focus on the melee and not only use divne smite but ELDRITCH SMITE! Which is the cooler edgy version of smite using warlock slots. You can melee focus your hexblade to knock prone and do some serious danage at advantage.
It's pretty great that you've got paladin to lvl 6 at least. alot of the clunk surrounding hex blade multiclass comes from deciding proper jump off points, but you did that for yourself.
Now, like the poster above I think you should just concentrate on hexblade levels until level 5 at the very least. Also, I think you'll want eldritch smite invocation when you do unlock it. You can use both divine smite and eldritch smite on your attacks, each using a slot. Now, imagine if you crit at that level-- you'll be unloading 16d8 if you use both pact slots for divine and eldritch smite. that's HUGE!
Now, if you want an easier character to play, the hexadin is NOT it. You have a lot of decisions to make, and depending on your preferred style of playing, you could have a lot of growing pains to go through until you "come online." For example, are you sword-n-board? Then, RAW, you can't reliably use the shield spell midcombat unless you've got the warcaster feat. Are you a GWM build? Then you won't be able to use your preferred weapon with CHA until 3 levels in.
Cgarciao and I have talked about the best jumping off point for MC paladin/warlock before. For me, I think your best jump points are paladin 6, paladin 9 and paladin 11 as Glory. I think the Oath of Glory level 7 and 18 features are ok, but not great. I would take more levels in hexblade than you are talking about. Paladin 6 gives you the aura. Paladin 9 gives you 3rd level spells. Paladin 11 gives you both Aura of Courage (level 10) and Improved Divine Smite (a flat 1d8 radiant damage is never bad, 2d8 if you crit). 5 levels of hexblade gives you the Pact of the Blade at 3 (use 2h weapon if you want) and Eldritch Smite as Cgarciao points out. ES also knocks a creature prone (no save) if they are huge or smaller, which is a nice add on to the damage (remember, melee within 5 ft are at advantage, but ranged party members will be at disadvantage attacking, so...think about that one and other players after you). Level 10 Armor of Hexes is quite powerful. Level 11 is three level 5 pact slots and a Mystic Arcanum (6th level).
So you can go 15 levels of paladin, if you want, but think about it strongly imo. I think the benefits of at least 9 levels of warlock outweigh the paladin levels. I like paladin to level 9 or 11. Just my two cents though. Hope you have a great time with it and play the character you want! :)
Hello. First time Dnd player. Currently I am a lv 6 variant human Oath of Glory paladin. I had a question about a hex blade paladin build.
My question is… paladin lv 15 warlock lv 5 is it a good idea? Now that I’m lv 6 paladin I’m gonna take 5 lv of warlock then back to paladin.
I’ve read some on taking paladin to lv 6 for Aura of Protection and then warlock lv 14, but I want a hexadin that’s more paladin.
My DM accused me of Min Maxing (and I had to lookup why that means! Lol.) but I’m actually just trying to make a character that’s easier to play for a beginner. I just want to divine smite bosses as much as I can. I don’t want all the clutter of warlock spells. I want elriditch blastx2 at lv 5 with agonizing blast and grasp of hadar for a non spell ranged attack that pulls the boss to me so I can divine smite with my charisma, hex, hex warrior, hexblade curse and maybe haste. (Oath of glory 9th lv) Then all I have to worry about is getting my CHA mod to +5
Is my idea to messy and will my character be weaker at higher LVs?
The fact that you're asking will my character be weaker at higher levels suggest that you are min maxing but you could do it better 😈.
Minmaxing is fine as you want to make sure you have a good damage output etc but to me DnD is about the story not leveling up. Make your choices for level up character driven or story. There should be a reason why you're a paladin and a warlock at the same time. Is there conflicting deities? Are you torn between them or are you playing them off against one another for more power? Thats something to think about....
....on the other hand if you really wana do damage be oath of vengance pally and use vow of emnity to kick the big bads teeth into next week. Alternatively for hexblade you can focus on the melee and not only use divne smite but ELDRITCH SMITE! Which is the cooler edgy version of smite using warlock slots. You can melee focus your hexblade to knock prone and do some serious danage at advantage.
Have fun
It's pretty great that you've got paladin to lvl 6 at least. alot of the clunk surrounding hex blade multiclass comes from deciding proper jump off points, but you did that for yourself.
Now, like the poster above I think you should just concentrate on hexblade levels until level 5 at the very least. Also, I think you'll want eldritch smite invocation when you do unlock it. You can use both divine smite and eldritch smite on your attacks, each using a slot. Now, imagine if you crit at that level-- you'll be unloading 16d8 if you use both pact slots for divine and eldritch smite. that's HUGE!
Now, if you want an easier character to play, the hexadin is NOT it. You have a lot of decisions to make, and depending on your preferred style of playing, you could have a lot of growing pains to go through until you "come online." For example, are you sword-n-board? Then, RAW, you can't reliably use the shield spell midcombat unless you've got the warcaster feat. Are you a GWM build? Then you won't be able to use your preferred weapon with CHA until 3 levels in.
Cgarciao and I have talked about the best jumping off point for MC paladin/warlock before. For me, I think your best jump points are paladin 6, paladin 9 and paladin 11 as Glory. I think the Oath of Glory level 7 and 18 features are ok, but not great. I would take more levels in hexblade than you are talking about. Paladin 6 gives you the aura. Paladin 9 gives you 3rd level spells. Paladin 11 gives you both Aura of Courage (level 10) and Improved Divine Smite (a flat 1d8 radiant damage is never bad, 2d8 if you crit). 5 levels of hexblade gives you the Pact of the Blade at 3 (use 2h weapon if you want) and Eldritch Smite as Cgarciao points out. ES also knocks a creature prone (no save) if they are huge or smaller, which is a nice add on to the damage (remember, melee within 5 ft are at advantage, but ranged party members will be at disadvantage attacking, so...think about that one and other players after you). Level 10 Armor of Hexes is quite powerful. Level 11 is three level 5 pact slots and a Mystic Arcanum (6th level).
So you can go 15 levels of paladin, if you want, but think about it strongly imo. I think the benefits of at least 9 levels of warlock outweigh the paladin levels. I like paladin to level 9 or 11. Just my two cents though. Hope you have a great time with it and play the character you want! :)